I Was on the Ice and I Was Underwater (La Dispute)
by Reader's Inflammation
Summary: Imagine that your OTP is not yet a couple. Person A falls into freezing water and passes out. Person B pulls them to safety but now needs to get Person A out of their wet clothes and into something dry.


It was scientifically amazing! A _frozen pond_ in the middle of the desert! Carlos couldn't believe it.

Of course, Cecil could. And this prompted him to ask Carlos to teach him how to ice skate, to which Carlos immediately said that he would. They had been becoming closer friends as of late and Carlos found that he really liked hanging out and talking to Cecil. He had such a wonderful imagination (even if most of his stories were actually true) and honestly Carlos really liked just listening to his voice some days.

Even though Cecil deemed it necessary to praise Carlos at every opportunity, Carlos didn't know just how he felt about him. Would he even want a relationship when there was this much science to be observed and experimented on?

Carlos's doubts didn't stop him from enjoying his time with the radio host, though. And they both soon found themselves coming to the edge of the frozen pond, brand new ice skates in hand.

"Ooh, Carlos!" Cecil practically squealed. "Just look at it! It's waiting to be skated upon."

Carlos smiled at Cecil's personification of the pond as he sat down to lace up the skates. Cecil noticed this and followed suit.

Once they were both prepared, Carlos made his way over to Cecil and grabbed his arm. "Ready?" he asked and Cecil nodded exuberantly. They both stepped out onto the ice and Carlos began to glide along, pulling Cecil behind him.

That is, until he realized that Cecil was gliding along by himself.

"Cecil!" Carlos exclaimed. "You're doing it!" And he proved his theory correct by releasing Cecil's arm from his grasp.

Cecil looked proud of himself and told Carlos, "It's actually not that different from rollerblading!"

The man's sudden realization made Carlos laugh. "No, I guess it's not."

And they both glided around the ice gracefully. Luckily, despite the pond being frozen, the air was still quite warm, so they needn't bother themselves with heavy winter jackets. Unfortunately, Carlos realized a little too late just how warm the air was getting, and just how quickly the top of the ice began melting.

As he looked around the pond for Cecil, Carlos been skating over to the edge where they had dropped their stuff. Cecil was still a little ways out on the water and Carlos was getting more worried by the second.

"Cecil!" he called and thankfully acquired the man's attention. "Cecil, we have to get—"

But Carlos couldn't finish his sentence before he cut himself off with a mix between a gasp and a shout as he watched Cecil fall down through the ice.

"No!" Carlos yelled as he yanked off his skates and ran as fast as he safely could across the ice towards the gaping hole. "Cecil!"

Carlos slid once he dropped to his knees a safe distance away and began crawling towards where he last saw his friend. "Oh God, no, no, no. . . ."

He couldn't see Cecil anywhere. It had only taken him about a minute to get to the hole, but Cecil was nowhere to be found. Not knowing what to do, Carlos began running through any and every training session he's ever had, but he couldn't remember any one that involved how to find someone who just fell through ice and is unable to be seen.

Luckily, he didn't have to worry for long because just then something burst through the water and began flailing and, to Carlos's surprise, it was Cecil. He reached as far as he could and grabbed onto Cecil's arm, pulling him back towards the semi-solid ice.

Once Carlos pulled him out, he half-told, half-shouted, "Come on. We have to get off of the ice," and began pulling Cecil along. The man in question seemed pretty delirious as to where he was or what was happening and he kept tripping and falling over, so Carlos wrapped Cecil's arm around his shoulder and trudged towards dry land.

Cecil fell unceremoniously into the sand and Carlos was right behind him. They both lay there, catching their breath, except when Carlos looked up at Cecil and found that he wasn't catching his breath because he wasn't breathing.

"No, no, no, Cecil," Carlos said, beginning to freak out. He felt for a pulse, of which there was one. "Okay, breathe Cecil," he said as began by blowing two breaths into Cecil's mouth, which successfully caused the man to cough up copious amounts of water. Carlos turned him onto his side, so he wouldn't choke on it and found that Cecil had begun to shiver violently.

"Cecil," he called. "Cecil, can you hear me?" When the man gave no sign of acknowledging him, Carlos gathered him up and helped him stand, but his legs were shaking too much for him to walk. Carlos quickly picked Cecil up from behind the knees and around the torso, carrying him bridal style back to the car. He quickly laid Cecil down in the back seat and drove as fast as he possibly could while not hurting Cecil in the back.

Once Carlos had made it back to his apartment, he gathered Cecil up from the back seat, noting that his shivering was still wildly out of control—which, Carlos mused, was better than him _not_ shivering, at this point. Careful not to hit his head on anything, Carlos pulled his key from his pocket after he entered the building code and silently thanked whatever mystical being was thought to watch over this crazy town that his apartment was on the ground floor. He opened his door and deposited Cecil on the couch, throwing the blanket that was draped over the back over him.

Then, Carlos ran into his bedroom, opened the bureau, and grabbed a pair of thick sweatpants and a matching sweatshirt from his old college days, as well as an incredibly warm long-sleeve tee and a towel from the bathroom before running back to his living room.

Cecil's shivering was just beginning to slow down, but at this point, Carlos was worried about lasting hypothermic consequences or frostbite.

"Okay, Cecil," Carlos said as he uncovered him, knowing full well that Cecil couldn't hear him, nevertheless understand him. But talking to Cecil made him feel a little better, especially in this situation, so that's what Carlos did. "I'm going to take off your shirt and dry your chest off with this towel."

Carlos paused, looking for any kind of acknowledgement, but none came. He sighed and lifted the bottom hem of Cecil's T-shirt over his head, tossing it to the side. Then, he took the towel and began wiping the remaining water from Cecil's chest and even toweled through his sopping-wet hair. He made sure that he was careful, but also quick. Cecil needed to warm up as fast as possible.

Once Carlos deemed Cecil's head and torso dry enough, he maneuvered the man's arms into the tee and then again into the sweatshirt. Looking back up at Cecil's still unresponsive face, Carlos's cheeks began to blush.

"Okay, that's done. But, um, now I have to. . . . uh, your pants are very wet, so I'm gonna . . . take them off and do the same thing—but to your legs, um. . . . yeah," he stuttered. "Gosh, Carlos. Get it together," he whispered to himself before taking a breath and undoing the button and fly on Cecil's jeans.

Carefully, Carlos shimmied Cecil's jeans off, as he blushed furiously, and began wiping the dripping water from the man's legs. The jeans were thrown on top of Cecil's soaking wet T-shirt on the ground, as was the towel when Carlos finished. After slipping his pair of sweatpants onto his freezing friend, Carlos threw the blanket back over Cecil and leaned back against the sofa.

 _Holy moly, that was insane,_ he thought to himself before standing up and checking the thermostat, which, thankfully, didn't have to be turned up due to the heat of the desert. He walked back to the couch and shook the shoulder of the sleeping man.

"Cecil," he called. "Please wake up now." After a minute of shaking and Carlos calling his name, Cecil began to stir. It took a few seconds before he was even aware of who was with him, but, when he was, he asked blearily, "Carlos? What's going on? Where are we?"

"Uh, we're at my apartment," he said gently. "You fell through the ice and I had to get you into dry clothes and warmer temperatures."

Cecil sat up by using his hands to push away from the armrest of the sofa and looked down at what he was wearing. "Y-You undressed m-me?" he asked, stuttering slightly, a blush not unlike Carlos's creeping into his cheeks and ears.

"Uh, well, _yeah_ , but, um. . . . I had to. You—You were freezing, um. . . . Your clothes were dripping wet and cold," Carlos told him, beginning to feel the nth blush of the day spreading to his cheeks.

"Oh," Cecil said softly. "Thank you."

When Carlos looked surprised and didn't say anything in return, Cecil added, "For saving me."

Carlos finally understood what Cecil was saying and replied, "Oh, you're welcome. Are you feeling okay?" he asked when he saw a violent shiver shake Cecil for a couple seconds.

"Y-Yeah, I t-t-think s-s-so," he said as his teeth chattered. Carlos sat down next to him on the sofa, pulled the covers back up around his shoulders, and repositioned Cecil so that he was leaning against his chest. Then, he leaned back and wrapped his arms around Cecil's torso.

"Here," Carlos told him as he felt Cecil relax against his chest. The shivers ceased after a minute and his breathing slowed down, so Carlos was sure that Cecil had fallen asleep. After releasing a content sigh, Carlos snuggled down enough so that he could comfortably lean his head back against the back of the couch, and promptly fell asleep as well.

* * *

Imagine that your OTP is not yet a couple. Person A falls into freezing water and passes out. Person B pulls them to safety but now needs to get Person A out of their wet clothes and into something dry.


End file.
